The present invention relates generally to plastic fasteners of the type used to attach merchandise tags to pieces of fabric.
Plastic fasteners of the type used to attach merchandise tags to pieces of fabric, such as articles of clothing, product labels, and the like, are well known in the art and widely used in the retail industry. Typically, such fasteners comprise an elongated plastic member having a first end shaped to define a cross-bar (also commonly referred to as a “T-bar”), a second end shaped to define a paddle, and a thin filament portion interconnecting the cross-bar and the paddle. As will be described further below, the cross-bar is adapted to be inserted first through a tag and then into a desired piece of fabric, with the paddle being appropriately sized and shaped to keep the tag from being pulled off the second end of the filament portion.
Plastic fasteners of the type described above are typically mass-produced in either one of two different forms known as fastener stock. A first type of fastener stock is a clip-type assembly, said clip comprising a plurality of fasteners, each such fastener comprising a flexible filament having a cross-bar at one end thereof and a paddle at the opposite end thereof. The fasteners are arranged in a spaced, front-to-back orientation, with the respective cross-bars parallel to one another and the respective paddles parallel to one another, each of the cross-bars being joined to a common, orthogonally-disposed runner bar by a severable connector. Adjacent paddles also may be interconnected by severable connectors extending therebetween.
The aforementioned fastener clip is typically made through the process of injection molding. Several commercial embodiments of the above-described fastener clip have been sold by the present assignee, Avery Dennison Corporation, as DENNISON® SWIFTACH® fastener clips.
A second type of fastener stock is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,475, which issued on Sep. 11, 1990 in the names of Francis T. McCarthy et al., the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. This type of fastener stock comprises a plurality of fasteners arranged in a side-by-side, co-planar arrangement, the paddles and T-bars of successive fasteners being joined together by severable connectors so as to form a supply of continuously connected fastener stock.
The second type of fastener stock is commonly manufactured through a process which is referred to in the art as continuous molding. An example of an apparatus designed to manufacture continuously connected fastener stock using a continuous molding process is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,462,784, inventor David B. Russell, issued Jul. 31, 1984 (which patent is incorporated herein by reference). In the patent, continuously connected fastener stock is produced using a rotating mold wheel that includes cavities in its periphery that correspond in shape to the molded fastener stock. To form the fastener stock, molten plastic is extruded into the cavities of the rotating mold wheel with a layer of controlled film overlying the peripheral impression. The molten plastic is then allowed to solidify. A knife in substantially elliptical contact with the peripheral impression is then used to skive excess plastic from the rotating mold wheel (i.e., the layer of controlled film), leaving plastic only in the molding cavities. After the skiving process, the continuously connected fastener stock is removed, in-line, from the cavities in the molding wheel. Transfer rolls advance the fastener stock typically to a stretching station where selected portions of the fastener stock are selectively distended (e.g., using diverging sprocket wheels). After the stretching process, the fastener stock is collected onto a windup roll for packaging.
It is known in the art to mark, or brand, the enlarged paddle of plastic fasteners of the type described above with identifying information relating to the product to which the fastener is ultimately to be attached. Examples of product identifiers include, inter alia, a company name, a product name, a logo, a unique alphanumeric character string and/or a product barcode. As can be appreciated, branding the enlarged paddle of plastic fasteners with identifying information serves to, among other things, improve brand recognition, enhance marketability and deter ticket-switching (i.e., prevent unscrupulous consumers from severing an unmarked plastic fastener, removing the severed plastic fastener and accompanying merchandise tag from the product, and then securing a less expensive merchandise tag onto the product using another unmarked, similarly constructed plastic fastener).
In U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0205940, which published on Oct. 21, 2004 in the names of William J. Cooper et al., there are disclosed various methods for marking the enlarged paddles of a strip of plastic fasteners produced through continuous molding, the publication being incorporated herein by reference.
In one embodiment of the '940 publication, a high-speed in-line label applicator affixes an adhesive-backed paper label onto an exposed face of each enlarged paddle as the continuous strip of fasteners is transported away from the rotating mold wheel. For at least the reasons set forth below, the in-line application of paper-based labels onto each paddle of the continuous strip of fasteners introduces a number of notable shortcomings.
As a first shortcoming, it has been found that the use of a pressure-sensitive adhesive to apply a paper-based label onto the paddle of a corresponding plastic fastener is not adequately secure. Specifically, the relatively weak adhesive bond enables the paper label to be readily peeled off its corresponding fastener. As a result, plastic fasteners with paper-labels adhesively bonded thereto are highly susceptible to tampering.
As a second shortcoming, it has been found to be difficult to integrate the in-line label applicator into the continuous molding process in an efficient manner. In particular, the precision and timing that is required between the label applicator and in-line transfer of the strip of fasteners away from the continuous mold wheel is considered too difficult to implement in a high-speed environment, thereby limiting product output.
As a third shortcoming, the aforementioned process is only capable of producing plastic fasteners with identifying information on one side of its enlarged paddle. As a result, the opposite face of the enlarged paddle is rendered unused for identification purposes.
In another embodiment of the '940 publication, the mold wheel cavities are designed to produce a continuous strip of fasteners with paddles that are either cut-out, embossed and/or debossed with identifying information.
As can be appreciated, engraving or otherwise modifying the individual mold wheel cavities to produce fastener paddles shaped to include identifying information requires that a unique rotatable mold wheel be constructed for each paddle design. As a result, the aforementioned process is both costly to implement and unable to support any rapid, on-the-fly modification (i.e., customization) of the information displayed on the fastener paddles.